Tales From Seal Beach: Tilt
by Xazz
Summary: Altair was sure his life was on the up. He won his court case and got to stay in California. Then he hit the ceiling and it's a long plummet to the bottom.


wow look an actual story installment for the main plot of Seal Beach. That hasn't happened since last June. *grabs an umbrella for the fucking waterworks*

Also this portion of Tales From Seal Beach is brought to you by Addison who paid for the party.

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They were out of soy milk. Seriously for the fact that Desmond was only five and didn't appear to actually have the physical means to actually ingest all of that liquid they went through a half gallon of the stuff like every three days. That was how it'd been since he'd first taken a liking to it after being diagnosed as lactose intolerant and Altair had to stop the milk when he was almost two. All milk. His little brother had been so pissed (if three year olds could be pissed…) because other than apple juice it was Desmond's favorite drink. At the very least he'd thrown the universe's biggest hissy fit and Altair had literally just had to lock him in the bathroom because he wasn't going to do anything about his awful behavior. Once he'd calmed down enough to not glare at Altair as soon as he saw him it took him about a week to warm up to soy milk.

He should just buy apple juice by the gallon. Was probably cheaper then buying fucking soy milk, which by the way Altair couldn't do because he thought it tasted gross. But he liked heavy cream with his coffee and Desmond was so not allowed anywhere near it.

So like the good guardian he was when he'd realized they were out of milk this morning he'd gone down to the corner store to get some more. He'd left Desmond in front of the TV with his cartoons and locked the door behind him, reminding Desmond to not open the door for anyone. Honestly though a bomb could have gone off and Desmond wouldn't have noticed since he was watching his Young Justice DVDs, and Altair wondered if DVDs could get worn out like VHS' could, that was how much Desmond watched that show.

He'd been a bit distracted though since bills were coming up on due. He had water and electric and the internet and cable, not to mention the rent on the house, and while that was all very normal for Altair to deal with (since he'd been doing it for almost five years anyway) he always sort of panicked at the end of the month even though he had a budget and he knew they were fine. Altair was just prone to panicking in general though so when he called to whine about it to Malik he just told him to take a nap or play with his brother because he was being retarded.

Young Justice was still playing when he walked in the door, not only with the stupid soy milk but also a small bag of powdered donuts he hadn't been able to say no to. "Des," he called as he went to the cabinet and got out a bowl. "Breakfast," and he poured some cereal into the bowl followed by the soy milk. He didn't get an answer. He wasn't overly concerned however since as said, Desmond tuned out everything when Young Justice was on. He picked up the bowl up and walked it over to the TV where Desmond usually sat. His brother wasn't there.

"Des," he called and set the bowl down and went to check in his room, then the bathroom. "Desmond," he called now starting to get worried but not panicking. He was not panicking. Just maybe fearing he'd hallucinated winning that trial a month and a half ago that got him custody of his little brother and he was finally suffering a psychotic break. No that couldn't be since Malik wouldn't have humored him like that. He put up with a lot of Altair's bullshit but that he wouldn't have played around with.

He double checked all the rooms and under and in everything, behind every door, and even checked outside, even though it wasn't like they really had a yard. Well it was really the yard of the person they were renting their part of the house from, though Desmond was allowed to play in it and everything so…

Eventually he just cracked. He sat on a stool, on the very edge, his phone up to his ear, leg bouncing rapidly. "Hey," Malik said after the fifth ring.

"Oh thank god," Altair gasped, he really needed to hear Malik's voice right now so he didn't continue to panic. Because now he was panicking.

"What's up?"

"I can't find Desmond."

"…What?"

"I can't find Desmond," and oh god it sounded even worse when he said it the second time. "I went to get milk because we were out and when I got back he wasn't here and I wasonlygonelikefiveminutesan d-

"Altair," Malik cut him off even as he worked himself into a frenzy. "Take a deep breath."

"Yeah but-

"Deep. Breath," Malik said sternly and Altair inhaled deeply and then let it out slowly. "Okay?"

"A little," he said in a small voice.

"Good," Malik said. "Now are you sure you looked everywhere?"

"Of course I did! The door was even locked when I got home, both of them! And the I did the deadbolts so he couldn't get to them. He's just…"

"Stop stop stop," Malik said quickly before Altair broke. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Call the police."

"The police," and all the color ran out of his face.

"Yeah. If something happened to your brother you need to call the police."

"Right," he said shakily, panicking again.

"… Do you want me to do it?"

"I don't think I can," Altair admitted, "I just…"

"Hey, it's okay," Malik said slowly, calmly. "It's going to be okay," he repeated.

"You're amazingly calm right now you know that?"

"Well I figure you're freaking out enough for the both of us. So just take a deep breath, I am in my car right now and as soon as I hang up I'm going to call the police."

"Okay," Altair said nearly breathless.

"Just… don't do anything till I get there okay? I know how you are you're going to try and do something stupid or potentially hurt yourself. Just… wait till I get there."

"Okay," he knew Malik wasn't implying that he'd actually physically hurt himself. He didn't cut or partake in any sort of self mutilation. But Malik knew that his mind was just as abusive and mutilating as any knife. So he was basically being told to not think.

Easier said than done.

"Fifteen minutes," Malik reminded him.

"I can make that."

"Good. It'll be okay," he said again and then hung up. Altair almost immediately slid off his stool and onto the floor, pushing his back against the bar. He held his phone clutched in his hand and was keeping his mind amazingly blank. He couldn't freak out. Not yet.

Fifteen minutes moved by at a snail's pace and Altair managed to survive it, though he'd almost broken down and broken something (easiest and closest thing at hand being his phone) when there was a knock. "Altair," Malik called.

"Come in," Altair didn't trust himself to stand up right now. The door opened and Malik came in. "I'm in the kitchen," he added. Malik came around to the kitchen area where Altair was pressed up against the base of the counter.

"Hey," Malik said, sinking down next to him comfortingly. Altair stared at him, trembling a little. "God you're like a scared deer," he said jokingly and sat next to him, instantly Altair leaned against him and Malik wrapped his arm around his shoulder. "The cops are coming, they should be here soon," Malik said into his hair. Altair just pressed his face into the meat of his shoulder.

"I lost him," Altair said softly. "I've only had him for a month, and I lost him."

"Shhh, you didn't do anything wrong," Malik said gently, stroking his back. In person he could hear the tremor in Malik's voice, he was freaking out too. He knew Malik was only acting calm for his sake, if he wasn't Altair would go into full meltdown mode complete with self deprecation and depression he really couldn't afford to have in this situation.

About ten minutes later the police arrived. Malik got the door and Altair pulled himself out from under the counter to answer their questions and gave them a picture. Altair took lots of pictures of Desmond, because he wanted to be able to remember this time, and so Desmond could too, as Altair didn't have anything like that. All he had were his own memories and the earliest photographs he had were of him when he was eight or so and that was with all of his Spanish cousins clustered around. Then there was just… this gap until Altair got a camera phone and while he didn't take pictures of himself he used it to document everything. Including his brother.

After half an hour the police left saying they'd put out a missing child's report and do everything they could to find his little brother. Malik made him eat breakfast once they were gone and then just stayed with him. His physical presence made Altair calmer and being able to touch Malik just made it seem somehow like it would be okay. Altair was still freaked out as all hell but he made himself remain as calm as possible.

Malik stayed the day and most of the night with him, but he had to go at his curfew. His dad might have accepted the fact that yes, Malik was gay, and nothing he did would change Malik's mind, and he had a boyfriend, but he had to come home every night. If he didn't Mr. al-Sayf would go looking for him, and so far there hadn't been a good enough excuse to convince him otherwise, and that included when they'd had to take Dean to the hospital after he wiped out at the beach so bad he went unconscious and nearly drowned.

"I'll be back first thing in the morning okay?" Malik said, standing at the door looking like he really didn't want to leave.

"Okay," Altair said softly, standing on the other side of the open door, Malik was holding onto both his hands.

"Just, take some Tylenol, try to get some sleep. You're not going to help Desmond by staying awake worrying. Okay?" and he reached up and gently stroked Altair's face.

"Okay," Altair said shakily.

"I love you," Malik told him, "I'll see you tomorrow," and he kissed Altair sweetly. "Try not to think," he added. Altair nodded mutely and Malik's face was just etched with concern. He kissed Altair again and then let him go and went to his car. Altair watched him drive away before he closed the door.

The house felt very large and very empty. Hollow all over and silent even though the TV was on. Altair felt his legs give out and he slid down to the floor, staring down the hall that led to Desmond's room, where the door was open and he could see the color of magenta they'd painted the room. Desmond liked bright colors, and they'd painted his room magenta with a cheerful yellow trim. He still had his robot sheets though. He still liked robots, and dinosaurs, and his Avengers action figures. He also had trains and Barbies and Ken dolls and a box of plastic animal toys. And right now they were all put away because Altair had cleaned his room yesterday while he'd been at Daniel's and he'd been so tired when he got home he'd gone straight to sleep and hadn't played with anything.

A strange noise rose in Altair's throat. It took him a moment to realize what it was. It was agony. Pure, undiluted agony. It was a sob and a cry and a moan and if there was one noise that could make someone cry on the spot that was it. It was just the start though and Altair leaned forward over himself and finally cried. He hadn't cried all day but now he did and they were great, wrenching sobs that shook his entire body and made it hard to breathe, hard to exist.

He sat there, sobbing, for a long time. He couldn't even properly think and all he focused on was just breathing at some point once he stopped crying. He was still sobbing, but he had no more tears left, he'd cried them all out and was just hollow inside. The sobs lasted a long time after the last tear had fallen.

At some point he just stopped. He had nothing left and was just exhausted emotionally and physically like he'd been hit by a jet. He stretched his legs out in front of him, staring at nothing. He didn't know what to do. It was like Desmond had just vanished into thin air while he'd been gone without an ounce of explanation. He didn't know what to do and the police, while helpful, had seemed like they didn't think they'd find anything. Malik wasn't even here to calm him down and now he was just thinking all the awful things that had happened and what could have happened to his brother.

Altair grabbed his head with a groan. He needed someone, but it was late, really late, and no one was awake. It was three in the morning, Malik said he wouldn't be here till at least eight.

His fingers were moving before he knew what he was actually doing. Then his phone was up against his ear and the next moment he got the U.S. Navy. He wasn't quite sure what he was saying to get through all the people, but he was. Eventually the phone started ringing again aboard his dad's ship. It picked up. "Admiral William Miles speaking."

"Dad?" Altair croaked.

"Altair?" William asked, sounding surprised and confused.

"Yeah," Altair kept it together though.

"Son, what's wrong?"

"I… I…"

"Altair? What's wrong? Talk to me boy," William ordered sternly.

"I lost him," Altair said it in barely above a whisper.

"What?"

"Desmond," he spoke louder now, "he's gone."

"Gone?" William demanded, "What do you mean gone?" Altair told him what happened, his voice cracking as he did so. "What did you do?" William growled. "You can't even keep track of your brother for a month before you fuck it up."

"I know," Altair said softly, hanging his head.

"How could you let this happen Altair?"

"I don't know."

"You wanted this. This is why we wanted you to come with us. This wouldn't have happened-

"I know!" Altair cried. "I know. I know," he pressed his face into his knees. "I didn't call you for you to tell me how badly I fucked up. I don't know what to do," Altair felt tears coming again from some reservoir he didn't know he had, making his eyes swim. "I don't know how to get him back because I know the police won't find him. Please, I don't know what to do or how to fix this. Daddy, help me," he actually sobbed into the phone and that made William draw back.

"Oh Altair," William said, he'd never heard Altair cry before. Altair was always so strong in front of William, because he never wanted his dad to see how broken he was, how hurt he was. He hadn't called William 'daddy' since he was a little boy. "Don't cry, I didn't mean to snap," William tried to say soothingly.

"What am I supposed to do?" Altair sniffed and wiped at his eyes. "He's gone. Someone came into my locked house, took him, and then locked the door after themselves."

"Altair… Altair. Stop crying, crying isn't going to help."

"I know," Altair sniffed, wiped his eyes again and tried to actually breathe.

"Take a deep breath, you'll be okay, we'll do something," William promised. "Now I need you to tell me exactly what happened. Every detail you can remember." Altair told him. Altair's memory was fantastic, almost perfect. He told William everything. "Okay. Altair, I need you to be calm," he said.

"I'm trying," Altair said thickly.

"I'm going to call some people. They're going to come, and they're going to fix this."

"They are?"

"Yes. They fix things. Just stay out of their way. Okay?"

"Okay," Altair said softly.

"They'll be there in a few hours."

"Okay."

"I'm going to hang up now. Are you okay?"

"No," he croaked.

"You'll be okay Altair."

"I know."

"I love you son."

Altair hesitated a moment, "Even when I hate you I still love you," he said.

"I know. Be strong, we'll fix this."

"You promise?"

"…No."

"Then I believe you," because William never kept his promises. "Bye dad," and then he hung up.

—

The sunrise was gray on the horizon when he heard the door open. Not a knock, but just open after someone had picked the lock. Altair got to his feet, eyes wide from lack of sleep, and the door opened. Someone walked in, hostile, and made as if to subdue Altair.

So not happening. Even running on no sleep Altair didn't just go down without a fight. They made to grab him and Altair grabbed back and faster than he thought he could move, running on the last edges of sleep and adrenaline he twisted them around. The next moment they were both on the ground, Altair on top, the other in a perfectly executed high level hold.

"Peace! Peace!" he realized there was someone else now. "We don't mean you any harm, Altair."

Altair looked up and there was another man in the doorway. He looked down at the guy he was holding down who looked very surprised by the fact that he was on his back, on the floor. "Who are you?" Altair asked, trembling slightly.

"We're friends you stupid kid, now let me up," the man he was holding snapped.

"Your father sent us," they said, "I'm Rimbold Drake, that man there is Durzo Blint. I swear we mean you no hard."

"Or we didn't," the man, Durzo, growled.

Altair looked at them, still slightly manic and then his eyes switched into that second sight he couldn't always control. They were blue in his sight and while he didn't know quite what the colors actually meant but all his friends were blue too, so it had to mean that it was a good color. "Oh my," Rimbold said, sounding surprised when Altair looked at him.

"My dad sent you?" Altair asked.

"Yes, now please let Durzo up, I don't think his pride can take much more," Rimbold said gently. Altair looked down at Durzo and then released him before standing himself. "There, that's better," he said as Durzo jumped to his feet.

"You were going to attack me," Altair said.

"We thought you were sleeping," Rimbold said. "We didn't know you were awake so we assumed it wasn't you. I'm sorry for such a confusion. Right Durzo?" Durzo just grunted. "Now, we're here to locate your brother."

"You'll find him?" Altair asked hopefully.

"That's our intention, yes," Rimbold said. "Oh stop glaring at the boy and get to work Durzo," Rimbold scolded Durzo. Durzo gave them both narrow eyed looks before leaving them. "Now," Rimbold said, drawing Altair's attention back to him. "I have some questions for you."

"Do I have to do this again?" Altair asked, "I don't… think I can."

"I don't want to know what happened," Rimbold assured him.

"Oh good," Altair sighed.

"In the past few months, before the custody battle, did you receive any strange packages or mail?"

"Like what?"

"Things that seemed out of the ordinary. Unsolicited envelopes or anything bearing this mark," he pulled out a piece of paper. On it was a triangular shaped symbol made of three parallelograms.

"That," he pointed at it, "I've gotten envelopes with that on it. Someone came up to me a while ago and wanted me to send Desmond to a school with that as the symbol."

"Really? Do you remember what they said?"

"Uh… he asked if I'd gotten their other letters and if I'd thought about sending Desmond to their school. A guy also came about it-

"A man came and talked to you personally?"

"Yeah," Altair nodded. "He asked me if I'd thought about sending Desmond to their school. He said child development was really important to them. But I don't understand, I thought they made baby formula-

From suddenly behind him Durzo laughed. Altair turned and looked at him. "Abstergo Industries is the largest pharmaceutical developer and manufacturer in the world," he said. "They make, among other things, cough syrup, baby formula, cold medication, vitamin supplements, baby and child food supplements including food and water. They also have a branch that specializes in biological warfare and weaponizing diseases."

Altair swallowed, "What does this have to do with my brother?"

"Well it has to do with both of you it seems," Rimbold said.

"What? How?"

"That thing you just did."

"What thing?" Durzo asked.

"He has it too," Rimbold told Durzo.

"Bullshit."

"Altair, would you do what you did before? With your eyes."

"Uh… this?" and he blinked hard to make it happen. The world washed into gray except for Durzo and Rimbold, who were blue.

"Well I'll be damned," Durzo said. "He didn't tell us this. This changes things," he said to Rimbold.

"It does. We have to assume they know. Have always known."

"What are you talking about?" Altair demanded.

"There's a department in Abstergo devoted to… strange if you will. Not just strange, but neural imbalances in the brain," Rimbold said. "They believe that humans are evolving into more advanced beings faster than normal evolution would deem it. They think as early as two thousand years ago with the birth of Christ we've started leap frogging into something more than modern humans. They trace individuals through long lines of their family trees back to significant… hiccups in genetics if you will and then find the modern individuals."

"What happens to them when they're found?"

"Abstergo gets a hold of them in some way. Payment, extortion, any myriad of ways. The department is there to advance the knowledge of neural science as well as human biology."

"Why did they take Desmond?" it wasn't adding up.

"Because they couldn't get William," and Altair felt himself pale. "Your father isn't just the admiral of the US Navy. He works with us," Rimbold motioned to himself and Durzo.

"Drake," Durzo said in a warning tone, "don't."

"He deserves to know," Rimbold said sternly. "Your father is part of a secret organization known as the Brotherhood of Assassins," Altair blinked, but said nothing. "He's very high ranking and has a great deal of… genetic hiccups if you would. Abstergo is very interested in his genetics and what he can do."

"Which is what?"

"Not a lot actually. Many of them are dormant, he can't even do what you did. When he was a boy his family lived in hiding in our bases so Abstergo wouldn't find him. Durzo is a similar story, his family lives in one," Durzo said nothing. "William gained power as a younger man and left the compounds and sought protection in the US military, he wouldn't hide anymore."

"That's why we moved so much," Altair said softly.

"Yes. His position protected you and your brother behind the might of the Navy."

"And now he's gone," Altair said and the full force of how much this was his fault hit him so hard he felt himself sway. "Why didn't he tell us?" Altair asked.

"It's a secret and he didn't want you involved in what goes on between Abstergo and the Brotherhood. He wanted to protect you from what could happen to you."

Altair swallowed, "Okay. So, he moved us all across the globe to keep Desmond away from Abstergo but… why did he move before he was born? I've moved around since I can remember, since we left Spain."

Rimbold looked at Durzo, who frowned. "You know that story better," Rimbold said.

"Not doing it," Durzo growled.

"What? What story, tell me, please," Altair pleaded.

Durzo scowled, "No. Drake and I are here on a mission, finding William's son because Abstergo took him."

"You're right," Altair said.

"Of course I'm right. There are prints going through Desmond's window, that's how they got in. You left it unlocked."

"No I didn't, I lock all the windows."

"Then they didn't lock them on the way back out. Now Rimbold and I will find your brother-

"I'm coming with you," Altair said.

Durzo laughed, "No," he said.

"I'm going. With. You," Altair said, staring up at Durzo who had a few inches on him. "He's my brother, I'm responsible for him. I'm going to get him back."

"You're a civilian you'll just slow us down."

"You mean like how I slowed you down when you came in?" Altair asked. "I might be a kid but I'm not someone you mess with."

"He has a point Durzo," Rimbold ssaid.

Durzo looked Altair over again, "How long's it been since you slept?"

"Yesterday morning, when I found he was gone," Altair said.

"You sleep in the car on the way to our office, I'm not going to have a sleep deprived child following after us." Altair felt and looked relieved when Durzo said that. "You also listen to me, got it? What I saw goes and you don't question my orders. Understood Altair?"

"Yes, sir," Altair said.

"Good. Get a bag, you might be gone for a while," he ordered, "We leave in ten minutes and if you aren't in the car when we go you're staying here."

Altair left, went to his room, grabbed his backpack and upended it onto the bed. Out went books and notebooks from when school had ended. He grabbed another pair of jeans and a pair of shorts, several pairs of socks and underwear and three other shirts. He brought nothing else, there was nothing else important enough except his wallet. No computer, no book, no iPod. He finished packing in five minutes and went out to the sidewalk. Another car was there, idling, Rimbold in the driver's seat, Durzo in the front.

He opened the rear door and shoved his bag in followed by himself. "That was quick," Rimbold said.

"I didn't need anything," Altair said, closing the door firmly and put on his seat belt. "I just need my brother."


End file.
